Sacramento Updates

By Denise M. Patterson, CPA

The new year has begun, as has another tax season. As everyone gears up for or is into another business tax season, I hope you will remember to take a few moments each day to take care of yourself and your loved ones.

CPA Day at the Capitol

CalCPA held CPA Day at the Capitol Jan. 21. CalCPA members provided legislators with information on our various financial literacy programs in the hope that they will partner with us in providing financial literacy information to various constituent groups. CalCPA members also met with state legislators to discuss issues of importance to the profession. The main item of discussion was the proposed legislation regarding the 150-hour rule. Currently, 46 states have adopted national standards of licensure that include 150-hours of education for licensure. California’s licensing requirements do not follow this national standard, and this undermines California CPAs’ ability to compete.

It is anticipated that should California fail to conform to the national standards, other states will restrict California CPAs from doing business in those states, because the California CPA license will not be considered “substantially equivalent.”

CalCPA is supporting legislation that will sunset Pathway 1 effective 2014, so that only Pathway 2 will be allowed for licensure. This will allow California CPAs to be considered “substantially equivalent” to CPAs from other states and allow California CPAs to represent their clients’ interests in various states without obstacle. All existing California CPAs and those licensed before 2014 would be grandfathered in under the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy Rules of Substantial Equivalency.

Council Meeting

The CalCPA Council met Jan. 22. In addition to reports from CalCPA’s chair, treasurer and committees, the nomination process was reviewed, and candidates for CalCPA leadership (chair, first vice chair, treasurer, vice chair and council members-at-large) were introduced. All candidates were afforded an opportunity to introduce themselves and briefly describe their qualifications for holding the respective office. Subsequent to the council meeting, the Nominations Committee met to finalize the slate of officers and council members. You can review the slate of candidates online.

During the Council meeting, the most recent class of the Leadership Institute was recognized. Jodie Rolih, our own chapter treasurer, graduated as part of this class. Congratulations Jodie!

CalCPA 100th Anniversary

Be sure to mark your calendars for Friday, June 19 when CalCPA will hold its 100th Anniversary Gala at the Fairmont in San Francisco. This event will include a silent auction, dinner and dance. More information is available online, where you can submit your story about interesting people you have met and the relationships you have forged through CalCPA.

CalCPA at Your Fingertips

Looking for information on CalCPA events for which you’ve registered? Or maybe you need a listing of all the CPE you have taken from CalCPA or the Education Foundation? Look no further than the “Manage My Account” function on the CalCPA website. Once you log in to the website with your username and password, the Manage My Account function provides you the ability to update your personal and professional profile, as well as locate Education Foundation products and course discounts.

— Denise M. Patterson, CPA (FL)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 2:13 pm and is filed under President's Message. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.